KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College women's volleyball team saw five people record at least nine kills, with seniors Stephanie Olah and Molly Wetherbee combining for 21, as the Owls recovered from dropping the first set to win the next three as they beat Vermont State University Castleton 3-1 (18-25, 26-24, 25-20, 25-19) in Little East Conference action Wednesday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Postgame Interview (Coach Girard)
Postgame Interview (Colleen Fraser)

The Owls (7-9, 1-1 LEC) saved their most effective offensive set for last, posting 17 kills against only three errors while hitting .326 in the fourth as they polished off a needed win.  The home team got progressively stronger as the night went on, using a win in extra points in the second that evened the match as a springboard to consecutive 25-19 victories after that.  In the third, KSC found themselves trailing 11-8 before rallying for a 14-14 tie on an ace by Annaliese Rudberg.  Tied at 15 two points later, the Owls ran off six straight to take their largest lead of the match, punctuated by a block by Colleen Fraser on Alondra Rojas.  The Spartans never mounted much of a push after that, as a swing by Small made it 23-17 before Fraser and Olah kills gave the Owls the set and their first lead in the match.

KSC ran out of the gates in the fourth, tallying seven of the first nine points to put the Spartans firmly on their heels.  After a Gigi Stake service ace put the Owls up 11-4, Castleton (8-6, 0-2 LEC) got as close as three by scoring five of the next six points, but a Fraser kill and ace by Small provided a response.  The home team pulled away from there, making it 20-14 on swings by Stake and Ashley Sarazin and eventually 23-15 on a kill by Rudberg.  Fraser, fittingly, ended the match with her ninth kill.  She, along with Lauren Bender and Stake provided the Owls an energy spark for head coach Jacob Girard after KSC got off to a very slow start.

An improving Castleton, who has never won a Little East Conference match (0-47) since joining in 2018, authored an impressive start, storming to a 25-18 set win in the opener that saw them flip a 6-4 deficit into a 16-7 lead with a 12-1 burst.  They rolled from there, piling up 15 kills and hitting .371 to take the early upper hand.  KSC had only 14 digs in the first set before recording 67 in the next three (22.3 per set).

It seemed as if the Spartans were on their way to a two-set advantage, again using a major run – this time turning a 6-2 deficit into a 16-13 lead – in the process.  However, KSC regrouped, tying the set four times after before retaking a 22-20 lead on consecutive Spartan attacking errors.  The visitors would knot the score twice more after that, including at 24-24 on a spike from Hailey Martinovich to force extra points, but an error by Vanessa LeBrun and a kill by Rudberg helped the Owls escape with a set win despite seven kills by Martinovich.

Keene State has now won all seven previous meetings with the Spartans, the last two in four sets.

Olah finished with a team-best 11 kills and hit .139 on the night, while Wetherbee had 10 kills without an error and hit .500.  Rudberg, Fraser, and Stake all added nine kills, with Rudberg and Stake both attacking at .300 or better.  Stake finished with 18 digs, two off Theresa Norris' match-high 20.

Martinovich had 16 kills on .256 hitting and 18 digs to pace the Spartans, who lost their third straight after falling in both ends of a tri-match to LEC opponent Rhode Island College (3-1) and Russell Sage College (3-0) at home on Saturday.

KSC improved to 3-1 at home on the season, though will head back out on the road again this weekend to take on Eastern Connecticut State University (12:00 p.m.) and Westfield State University (2:00 p.m.) in a tri-match on Saturday, October 5 in Willimantic.